The adventures of Shannon, jack of all trades, Master of Arts. Keep up with me on my crazy excursions and outrageously lucky encounters as they happen instead of waiting for the memoirs.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Ode to Soy Milk

Aight, here's the deal. There are two reasons to give up dairy, and here they are.

1. It's bad for you. No, really. It's bad for you. Think about it for a second. No animal (outside of humans) drinks milk after infancy. And no animal drinks the milk of another animal. The following stats vary depending on what study you read, but it is true that humans have a lot of trouble digesting dairy. Nearly 40% of Whites are lactose intolerant. And the percentage jumps significantly for Latinos/Hispanics, Africans/African Americans, and others identifying as Black, and Asians (with nearly 90% of Asians having difficulty digesting dairy products). People say, "Oh, it tastes good. I love milk. I can't live without cheese..." Well, yeah, I get it. We've been raised with it. It's in most prepared food and, especially when you consider butter, it's very difficult to avoid. But none of that is evidence to the contrary of my point. Oh, and that, Milk, it does a body good bull shit? The FDA has an interest in dairy farms doing well, not in our health. Now, I know that's going all conspiracy theory. But seriously, what's the last drug they approved that didn't cause strokes or destroy your liver? In a for-profit world you gotta take responsibility for your own health and education. Government organizations aren't going to do it for you. (No, conservatives, that's not to be taken out of context and used as an argument against universal health care. We can have that discussion at a later date.)Bottom line: soy for your health.

2. Animal cruelty is very bad. Now, if you're not interested in this, or don't care about this point I can't make you. But, if that is an issue to you, so much so that you're interested in not eating meat, then you really want to go vegan, not simply vegetarian. Animals are treated with horrific cruelty at mass dairy production facilities (and egg collection facilities--again, another conversation), just as bad as slaughter houses, and arguably worse being that in dairy production they're used over and over again. They are pumped so full of hormones that milk literally fills their entire bodies because there is no place for it to go. It seeps out of orifices including their eyes. Their utters are never disconnected from the machines that pump them, and they become open sores which ooze puss and infection. Not only is the pain excruciating, but this is also a bullet under point 1. It's unhealthy for the people who drink it. It is estimated that around 95% of milk on American grocery shelves has detectable traces of puss. Makes you think twice about the milk mustache.

So, for these reasons, soy milk and soy in general as a replacement for dairy is a healthy and morally responsible choice. Here's to soy milk. Woo hoo.

(P.S. Caleb I love you, and your rants. Seriously. I'm also just passionate about certain things.)